Video:

(If you're having trouble with the video stream, you can download the video here.)

Transcript: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2012/01/24/remarks-president-state...

An auto worker, a mayor, and a teacher—find out who else is sitting with the First Lady tonight at the #SOTU: OFA.BO/BqXXMp

— Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 24, 2012

Great article written by Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where he argues that it is not oppressive government policies that hurt the economy.  He presents research suggesting that in fact, legislators are VERY friendly to lobbyists employed by big businesses.  The more financially and politically powerful the lobbyists, the more likely legislators are to act in their favor. The financial industry, which employs some of the most financially and politically powerful lobbyists of them all, actually got exactly what they wanted out of legislators: the ability to take high risks for high financial rewards without the burden of government regulation.  And look where that got us.  

So the moral of the story is this: we need more, not less regulation over big business.  The Republican party fairy tale of the anti-business big government destroying the economy is simply wrong.  The problem is that government treats big business too well...to the point where big business is free to sacrifice the well being of our country and its people to increase its bottom line.  The 2008 financial crisis demonstates the consequences all too well.  

Powerful armies of well-funded lobbyists bend legislators and fund certain candidates (yes, I do mean the current Republican candidates) to get government to do exactly what they want: to stay out of the way of big business and their profits, no matter what the costs to society.  It's time for the people to have an army of our own.  This is why we need to vote.  

Great article on how President Obama's first term accomplishments fit into his long term plan. 

The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all. 

President Obama has taken steps to make us energy independent and
create an economy that's built to last. He's been a strong supporter
of domestic energy production, has made historic investments in clean
energy technology, and has nearly doubled fuel-efficiency standards
for cars and trucks. Because of the progress we've made, our
dependence on foreign oil is the lowest it's been in 16 years. Yet,
conservative groups funded by big oil are spending millions trying to
distort the President's record.

Watch the video and sign up for a text message reminder to remind you to call your Senator on January 23.

15 minutes until Wikipedia goes dark. Let's hope #SOPA #PIPA never pass and we never have to do this again. ur1.ca/7jznk

— Wikipedia(@Wikipedia) January 18, 2012

Have you noticed some sites, such as Wikipedia and Google have gone dark today? This is in protest to two bills currently before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House. The administration recently published their response to these proposed measures.

"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."
(via Whitehouse.gov - link: http://j.mp/Auqrfn)

Oppose SOPA and PIPA today! VIsit: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ to write your legislators.  You can also protest on your social networking profiles by visiting http://blackoutsopa.org/